The impact of Senate reform on the functioning of committees.

• Author: O'Brien, Gary

In May 2006, the Government introduced Bill S-4 to limit the tenure of Senators to eight years instead of to age 75. A Special Senate Committee considered the subject matter of this bill and presented its report in October 2006. In December the Senate Appointments Consultations Act (Bill C-43) was introduced in the House of Commons. It provides an opportunity for voters to indicate a preference during federal elections for who they would like to see appointed to the Senate. Although neither law has yet been adopted, this article considers the impact of the proposed changes on the functioning of committees of the Upper House.

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The work of Senate committees is often explained through use of a constitutional model. Under this model, the Senate has three essential characteristics: (1) senators are not elected: therefore any claim by Senate committees to political authority is weak; (2) the Senate is not a confidence chamber and the government is not accountable to it: therefore Senate committees focus on policy studies not partisan politics; and (3) the financial initiative is legally awarded to the House of Commons: therefore Senate committees usually restrict themselves to technical as opposed to substantial amendments to bills. One should expect if the constitutional model of the Senate is altered in any significant way either formally or informally, it will have an impact on how committees function.

It must be kept in mind that change to the committee system can come about without formal constitutional amendment. For example, in the early 1960s only two or three Senate committees had regular meetings and called only a few hundred witnesses each year mostly public servants. Today there are approximately 20 active Senate committees which call on average 1200 witnesses each year, over two thirds being from the non-governmental sector. These differences resulted not from constitutional amendment but from changes to Senate practice and attitude toward the importance of committee work.

However, our legislative history reminds us that altering the constitutional model can have an impact on committees. Before the coming of responsible government, both Upper and Lower Canada had an elaborate system of committees. In the 1820-21 session, the House of Assembly of Lower Canada created 100 select committees. In 1825, the legislature of Upper Canada established 58. One of the first actions taken by the United Province of Canada in 1841 was to abolish...